"I'm somewhat in concurrence with Tally there, Audra. You didn't appear to have even a twinge of trepidation. Remarkable. You've established a rapport with Dafne and I'd STILL be nervous about her. Still, love to talk to her myself sometime later if I can summon forth the venturesomeness. A rare chance to learn insights on a non-humanoid."
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"If someone has to talk to someone dangerous, might as well be me," she says quietly, not quite understanding where Shane nor Tally is coming from, and probably revealing a lot more about her mindset than she realizes. "It's not like I haven't done it before."
Shrike nods and puts up her polearm for the moment. "Still took nerve. Good job." Audria never seems to lack for courage in actual danger, only in certain social contexts, despite her facility with them at other times. With them at her back, it's unlikely real harm would have befallen her, but her calm was still admirable.
The little thrush seems to be back in her element on Audria's shoulder. Although she'd appreciated Talanaliel's help earlier, it's probably better this way. The impassive shrike mask turns to focus on Tally. "And thanks. For before."
She crosses the room to look and listen down the next path.
The eastern passage is short and leads to a corridor of worked stone arrayed north to south. The southern end is a solid wall of collapsed rubble, but to the north the way seems to branch out east again.
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"Thanks," Audria replies when Shrike compliments her. It's not something she's used to out of the taciturn vigilante, and she wonders how much of that is because she's deliberately unreadable.
When the attention turns to Tally, if a bird could blush, she'd be bright read from the tone of her voice when she responds.
"J-j-just trying to be helpful," she stammers out.
As Shrike looks ahead to the next passage, Audria takes up a close position in case she needs to help her.
"'S'pose it would've been too much to ask that the garbage monster knew more of what was going on than that there were other two legs..." They shrug. "Well, onwards anyways. Gaekhen actually can get deader."
"Sorry," Audria mutters at Pava's comment. She hadn't thought about it, and to be honest, she wasn't sure if Dafne would know much anyway. She hated to judge, but the otyugh seemed a little slow to her, and probably didn't pay much attention to anything besides food.
She is certain that Pava's opinion of her has gotten even lower.
North holds only the other child-sized crawlspace Elric found, so this eastern tunnel into a worked-stone corridor seems like the reasonable next path for a group of people their size. Shrike trades spear for bow again and pokes her head into the north-south corridor carefully, alert for any danger. If she sees none, once the others have gathered, she proceeds in their normal order.
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The walls and ceiling of the corridor are encrusted with dozens of yawning skulls, their mouths opening into dark holes in the walls. Abella's practiced eye is the first to notice the porosity and pockmarking in several of the skulls; their front teeth are also blackened and decayed. She reaches out a hand to stop Shrike from advancing, just as Elric makes the same observation.
In short, the skulls are a trap. They likely spit out some harmful substance on unwary tresspassers.
"Eh? I was just saying it was too bad she didn't know more. Don't apologize so much, duckling."
Pava whistles softly through their teeth when Abella and Elric spot the trap "Good eye, good eye... So, what's the word, Murderbird? Mage-n'-More? Can you stop the spitting skulls? Or at least spot where not to step?"
Shrike stops dead at her companions' observations, then examines the skulls' mouths carefully herself.
"I can try. Stay back in case it triggers them. Might need your help again," she tells Talanaliel, putting up her bow and taking the lockpick set out of her pack. It isn't really made for this, but she can give it a try. Delicately, she reaches behind the skulls with the tools, looking for the triggering device or runes to pull them out. She keeps an eye on the acid-blackened mouths, ready to dive back to safety if they start to spit.
Shrike is reasonably certain she has disabled whatever trigger would cause the skulls to start spitting.
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Shane has NEAR complete faith that trap has been dealt with by Shrike.
He's still not going first.
Tally agrees to help Shrike with the trap, granting a shard of divine favor onto the elven vigilante each time before she makes the attempt to disable the device. Still, she stays with Audria while the attempts are made.
"Should we have some one at the back in case someone tries to take us from behind through those small passages," Audria asks.
"So far I don't really get the idea that we've been rumbled. If you're thinking Dafne was a little too friendly not to be alerting Rolf then yeah, you'd better."
Then, figuring that if anyone's getting sprayed with something it should be them, Nips at Heels temporarily takes the lead into the hall.
"I wasn't thinking about Dafne," Audria says to Pava. "Just nervous about how many of those little tunnels we keep finding. And if they wanted to catch us by surprise, wouldn't they want it too seem like we haven't been found out?"
After Pava goes, Audria looks to Shrike and Elric before following the Shoanti rogue.
After about half a minute, Shrike stands up and steps directly in front of the skulls to test what will happen. If no acid is forthcoming, she gestures for the others to come forward and quietly pads down the corridor, longbow in hand, to peek around the northern corner.
Shane follows quietly as he may
"Let's keep moving - I can cover the rear," Elric says and switches back to his longbow.
Despite their caution, no-one hears anything suspicious until it is too late. As they reach the top of the corridor, a rattle of bones is their only warning before two skulls leap from the walls to attack Pava and Shrike. They are not just skulls, either; they uncoil skeletal bodies like that of an immense snake.
Pava's quick reflexes put them out of harm's way, but Shrike is less reactive. The serpentine skull sinks its teeth at the junction between her neck and her shoulder.
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"Amazing!" He blurts, "I've heard of these! Necrophidiuses! Absolutely fascinating really, there's some debate on who made the first of these kind of constructs. A few swear by the Thasslonian empire but others believe Osrianic roots are to praise for the concept. Not undead, mind you, but as guardians they give that impression. You see, rare oils are used and... " It occurs to him they might want more pragmatic info, "Oh, try not to get bit. Their poison is a paralytic. And if you can, use blunt force!! Blades and points are less effective!"
Shrike hisses in pain, her only sound before stepping to the side and bringing up the bow to send a blunted, holy arrow at this next set of snakelike animated bones. She seems unaffected by the poison, but her aim is too hasty and the arrow shatters on the wall behind it. She sets her feet and prepares to draw again or to lash out with a cestus-protected fist.
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Audria huffs as Tally sings her song and gives her a spark of divine favor like she'd been doing for Shrike. She leans the halberd against the wall next to her and pulls out the club before moving into the space Shrike was just in.
"Sorry for pinning you in there," she tells the vigilante before trying to smash the skelly-snek with the iron-clad shaft.
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Abella thinks to herself “wow those bone skeletons look a lot like necrophidii” right up until Shane identifies them as necrophidii. ”Yes, obviously. They are good for tricking people into wasting thalergy, commonly called positive energy.”
The points her new wand at the necrophidius that Audria and Shrike are targeting. Having no attachment to any specific god or philosophy, she conjures the only type of weapon that means anything to her: an elven thornblade, the weapon she and her sister use.
Abella's summoned thornblade strikes one of the necrophidii, chipping off a fistful of bone. Audria's greatclub does a deal more damage, shattering several of the vertebrae and part of the skull.
The skull-topped skeletal snake in the alcove strikes again, this time its jaws clamping on Pava's arm and almost shattering it.
The other one begins swaying in a very curious manner, the bones clacking and rattling in a rhythm that is almost soothing.
Elric shakes off the hypnotic effect, drops his bow, draws his hammer and smashes the bone snake next to Pava.
"Fascinating..." He mutters unable to look away, or do anything else much for the moment
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Audria and Tally, divinely protected by the Eternal Rose, shrug off the hypnotizing effect of the swaying construct. Tally shifts to hide behind Audria's head and neck as she sings and once more gives Audria a shard of divine favor. She snaps the club into the same necrophidius as last time, but doesn't get the same power behind her blow.
"Pava, are you holding up over there," she asks, wondering if she needs to do what she can to heal their wounds.
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"nnnngg. NnnnggGG!"
"I'll take that as no," She says hoping that someone can pull her out of harm's way so she can get at the other bony-snake.
Shrike doesn't pause for a second in the face of the strangely soothing swaying and rattling of the cobralike bones. She notes that Pava seems to have gone uncharacteristically quiet, but it isn't something she can help with. Abella can, though. "Abella," she croaks, and indicates Pava with a quick jerk of her head. Hopefully the mage will be able to drag Pava out of danger.
The necrophidius targeted by Elric darts out of the way of the blow, unscathed, Pava's blood dripping from the snake fangs implanted in the human jaw. Both Shane and Pava fall under the strange effect of the hypnotic dance, while Audria keeps her wits and deals a serious blow to one of the constructs.
Abella wags her finger at the necrophidius in time with its dancing. ”Tsktsk, I won’t be falling for that.”
Drawing the cure light wounds wand, she steps up next to Pava and taps them.
The long string of words from Shane and Abella resolves into two important concepts: not undead and tricking people. Audria seems stubbornly planted. Shrike shifts her longbow to her left hand and tumbles past the girl and the snakelike thing — necrophidius, Shane had called it.
She lashes out with her cestus-bearing right fist, but is out of position still from the movement.
The dancing snake construct lashes out at Shrike as she tumbles past and she can feel the air being displaced as its bite just misses her. In the next heartbeat, Abella's spectral weapon smashes it into bone shards that clatter loudly on the floor.
Spiritual Weapon does force damage. Force damage is energy damage and isn't resisted by DR. The shape of the weapon has no bearing on the type of damage it deals.
Audria tries to crush the the skeletal construct, but her blow skitters off the bones instead of biting in and crushing them.
Seeing one of the necrophidius destroyed, Elric takes another swing at the second one.
Still dazed, Shane inwardly ponders the nature of the oils said to be used to craft these amazing constructs. He was always weak in Alchemical studies... frustrating
Elric's hammer smashes into the second necrophidius, shattering several vertebrae.
"Ngh! Nnn. Nnnnnnrrrrrggghhhh!"
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Oh yes, MASTERFUL theorizing going on in that skull right now.
Shrike reaches out and hauls the frozen Pava by the collar away from the remaining snake-thing, into the corner now occupied only by the dust and bone fragments that were once the first snake-thing. She tries to keep Pava upright and away from the snake's fangs, but otherwise is not particularly gentle about it. She draws her light mace.
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"Fnng' urdr rd"
Abella's summoned thornblade strikes at the remaining necrophidius, but the creature darts out of the way lightning-quick. With Pava out of harm's way for now, she turns to Elric to give him a little spiritual guidance.
Relentless, the skeletal ophidian guardian advances into the space previously occupied by Pava . It strikes at Audria, scoring a bite on her upper arm.
When the necrophidius exposes itself by moving forward, Elric wastes no time taking advantage. But the bone snake moves too fast for him to connect.
Then he shifts position, making sure to keep his own guard up, and strikes again.
With the bonesnake still distracted by the second heavy blow of Elric's hammer, Shrike swiftly takes advantage. She aims the light mace carefully rather than powerfully, trying for the little vertebra that connects the skull to the body.